Friday, May 28, 2010

Yay this is finally the last update and then I will FINALLY be all caught up. About time ha.

Saturday our neighbors Mike and Katie got married here in La Mesa. Frank and I loved that the wedding was less than 2 miles away. We were able to leave at the last minute. It was a small fun wedding, my favorite! We met quite a bit of nice people and couples, one of the girls was from Germany (and the only girl I know who can rock a sexy shaved head!) so we had a great time learning the German culture.

After the wedding Mikey joined us and we headed to Fashion Valley Mall so I could finally use my gift card to Mac for some eye shadow (Thanks Nicole!).

Once the jeep was gone we were down to one car for the first time ever. No motorcycle or crappy old truck. Just the SI. Oy! We hated putting the dogs "car cage" in the car all the time because, one it's a large pain and takes forever, two it was damaging the interior of the car. We had been looking around.. somewhat.. for an SUV for quite a while now but nothing seemed right. The day after Frank had his tooth pulled we were out and about running some errands and decided to stop by the bank to see what kind of used car loan we could get. We were surprised to be approved and given a check right on the spot. I know my credit is close to excellent but we weren't sure about Frank's, and being military we keep everything in his name. He found out his credit is just as good, or possibly better (I can't remember what mine was) than mine. It's nice to know that all our hard work to pay off debt has made a difference.

We knew we wanted to be smart about this purchase so we stuck with our limit of $13,000 rather than going higher with what the bank offered. A few days later we met this guy who was selling his 4runner on craigslist. We liked the car, it was what we wanted but he wanted WAY too much for it. We were offering more than Kelly Blue Book but he still wanted a few thousand more than what we were offering. Nor would he come down to our price. It just wasn't meant for us.

We went around to all the Toyota dealerships near us looking for used 4runners, but couldn't find anything as old as we wanted. Like older than 2006 ha! The last one we went to the salesman asked if we wanted to check out a 2004 Ford Explorer that was in great condition. We figured what the heck sure. It was in better condition than our 2007 car! And had lower miles. For being a 2004 it only had 53,000 miles. We fell in love. The dealership didn't want to come down to our price, but we worked them and in the end after it was all said and down we got the Explorer for $13,000 even : ] Meaning we got a pretty good deal. We were pretty proud of ourselves.

The dogs are LOVING having the cargo/trunk space all to them now. Know more having to cram into there little cage in the car. They can now share the back with there friends when we head to the beach. Which we have done twice now, once to Mission Trails and once to Cowles Mt. We're all loving it!

Something I almost forgot to mention.... WE FINALLY HAVE A KITCHEN TABLE! While walking through Target last week I saw this folding table (like a card table) that looked so nice. It doesn't even look like it folds up. They have matching chairs that fold up as well. We only have two chairs for now because I thought the prices of it all was $10 less than it was. Oh well we'll get the other two chairs later.

What a great site : ] Now to my FINAL update. I finally have an appointment with a physical therapist! I'm pretty sure it's just regular P.T. rather than the spinal physical therapist my doctor wanted me to see. However, Tricare won't cover that. Boo. Either way I'm super duper excited. My first appointment is next Tuesday!

Whew I'm glad all these updates are done with! Back to normal blogging tomorrow.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Now that I'm sitting here trying to remember what we have been doing over the last few weeks, I wish I hadn't done an update at all. It would have been much easier. Lets see what all I can remember!

After we got back from Vegas we realized we relaxed a little too much. It took us both a little too long to get back into the routine of things. Then we both caught a cold, which just made things slow down a little more :(
I can always tell when I'm not taking zinc. I get sick! Pooy. And yet I still haven't ordered more.

Between being on a short vacation then getting sick my body was aching for the gym. Too bad I still had a little while to go. Boo!

About a week after getting over our colds and finally getting back into things Frank had a tooth pulled (I'm going to spare you the picture. It was a tooth in the front so it's not attractive.) that's been needing to come out for years. It was dead and pretty much just rotting. Nasty yes, but no it didn't look dead while still in his mouth. He's still toothless in the front but he should hopefully be getting his tooth retainer next week. He's looking forward to being able to eat normal again. After that it's going to be about a 6 month process until they can put in a permanent.

That same day I had yet another doctors appointment for my sciatica. I'm doing good but not improving, so we're gonna try to find (yet again) a spinal therapist in San Diego that takes Tricare. I can only hope they find someone this time!

Fast forward a few days later and Frank's cousin Ricky came home from Afghanistan. I'm not sure what I was more happy about, him coming home safe or that the xbox was gone!! While Ricky was deployed we had some of his stuff stored here as well as the Jeep. Frank was addicted to the xbox while we had it, and I practically counted down the days till it was gone.

I decided that since the xbox was gone and we don't watch the few channels we get on the converter box that I should just pack it up. It's been nice not having either. We've been doing another Friends marathon so it doesn't even seem like we have no cable.

We do plan on buying another Wii sometime in the future because we would like to have something to do when friends come over. Right now we're just boring ha.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

I would have had this post up yesterday, but my laptop is going slow and stopping in the process of editing pictures :( It's driving me a little nuts so bare with me.

For now I'm just going to do a Vegas update.

This was the BEST birthday I have ever had! I wanted a relaxing weekend away and that's just what I got.
We left Sunday morning and got to Vegas in the afternoon. Since we were staying at the Stratosphere we wanted to go check out Freemont street. Word of advice, ONLY go there at night. We were extremely disappointed with it during the day. So instead we headed back to the hotel grabbed a late lunch and laid around for a bit before getting ready. Sunday was May 2. My birthday. The night we were seeing 'O'! We planned this whole trip around this show. Needless to say we were pretty excited.

Once we picked our tickets up at will call we headed over to Circo to get some dinner. The food at this place was so worth the Cha Ching! The service.. not so much. For being such a fancy place you'd think they would be more on top of things. I mean they never once asked how our food was or refill our tiny water glasses.

We almost missed the show because our food was taking so long to cook. We had to ask some random waiter for our check as soon as our food was served. Our waiter never came to check on us. We shoved (literally) our food down then ran across the slot machines to the theater. We made it with 5 minutes to spare. Whew!

If you have ever thought about seeing a cirque du soleil show, you must! My contacts were drying up because I don't think I blinked during the whole show. I want to see more now.

Monday was our lay in the sun day. Mm I want that now! Poor Frank couldn't take much of the sun because he's too white. Even with layers of sunscreen he still felt like he was burning. Poor guy.

After the pool we checked out the attractions the stratosphere has to offer. We didn't do any of them because it was more than we wanted to spend, but it was awesome to watch! They have a controlled free fall that's new and EVERYONE loves to watch, including us. Instead we headed out to check out this indoor skydiving place for Frank. He fell in love. He got to go twice, the second time for free since they forgot to record the first.. flight.. which we had paid for a DVD. Definitely recommend them. Now if only I could remember the name of the place.

After skydiving we went looking for a new place to us for dinner. We ended up at Plant Hollywood. It was pretty slow so that was nice. Our waitress was between Frank and I in age so we had a lot in common. I'm pretty sure her other customers hated her since we were talking just about the whole time. Whoops!

Tuesday it was time to pack up. Hey our car was still in one piece at this point! We left the car at the hotel then took the tram down to M&M World :) When we were there in January I had told Frank the next time we go back I want a water bottle from there. They're cute. We of course loaded up on M&M's.

One last thing I wanted to possibly see before leaving was the Dolphins at The Mirage. I saw them a few years back when I was in Vegas for a friends wedding. Frank had a good time, but I was LOVING it just like the first time. If you've never been to the secret gardens at The Mirage, you must. It was the perfect way to end a perfect birthday.

{Sorry for the poor quality in some of the pictures, I had to use my phone since Frank forgot to put the battery back in the camera}

I may have planned the whole trip, but Frank made sure everything was perfect for me. How lucky am I!? ha

Hopefully I'll be back in a few day's with another update. Let's just hope I'm able to edit the pictures faster and without my laptop crapping out on me.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

When it comes to blog design, or design in general, I'm no good. Flat our horrible. I've been trying to find "that look" I want for my blog, but there are a few things I can't seem to get. Or I never like what I do, it's just not my thing! One BIG complaint is those stupid little butterfly things in the sidebar. I know I've read somewhere how to take them off, but now for the life of me I can't remember where I read that. Darn.

Here's the HELP! I'd love to just pay someone to do it. Easy as can be right? Well I don't have the money to pay, so.... anyone wanna help me for free??

PLEASSSEEE :)

I have gone through all the tutorials and have asked for help, but I'm just to HTML slow.

Even a little advice on what I should do or how I can make it look better is ALWAYS appreciated.

I would like to give a big THANK YOU in advance!

* * * * * * * * * *

Last week my mom got an email from the Boeing Travel Accounting warning about scammers while traveling. This incident had apparently happened to an employee, sometime resent I'm guessing.

She sent this to me a few days before Frank and I left for Las Vegas, so it was nice to have some new info to remember.

[[You arrive at your hotel and check in at the front desk. When checking in, you give the front desk your credit card (for all the charges for your room).

You get to your room and settle in.

Someone calls the front desk and asked for (example) Room 620 (which happens to be your room). Your phone rings in your room. You answer and the person on the other end says the following,

'This is the front desk. When checking in, we came across a problem with your charge card information. Please re-read me your credit card number and verify the last 3 digits Numbers at the reverse side of your charge card. Not thinking anything you might give this person your information, since the call seems to come from the front desk.'

But actually, it is a scam of someone calling from outside the hotel/front desk.

They ask for a random room number. Then, ask you for credit card information and address information. Sounding so professional that you do think you are talking to the front desk.

If you ever encounter this problem, tell the caller that you will be down at the front desk to clear up any problems. Then, go to the front desk and ask if there was a problem.

If there was none, inform the manager of the hotel that someone called to scam you of your credit card information acting like a front desk employee.]]

Scary stuff! Always remember to be on the look out for people who don't seem..right.. while traveling.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

For the past week I've been seeing quite a bit of my Military friends partaking in a Mil Spouse Blog Hop over at Riding the Roller Coaster, so I of course had to join in :) This is going to be so much fun, I already found a new blog on the list of blog hoppers that I'm excited to get to know.

This is our story...

Frank has been in the Navy 6 years this July, and we have been married for over 2 1/2 years (3 years in September, CRAZY!). We grew up only miles away from each other, and had MANY chances of meeting but somehow it never happened. He went to school with my brother and had once even been to our house! It wasn't until September 2006 that we met for the first time. He was home on leave from Virginia where he was stationed. There were no sparks then due to the fact that I was completely out of it after being awake 30 some hours for work! EEK. Never again. He somewhat dated a friend of mine for a few months after our first meeting, but it didn't last. We met up again a few days after Christmas while he was home for the holidays. Even though the friend that had dated him asked that nothing happen, there was no keeping us apart, we were meant to be together. He's my soul mate.

2 months later I went to Virginia for a few months of vaca and ended up going home in May just to pack up my stuff and move back with him. 4 months later we were married on the beach.

We have two fur babies named Molly and Ellie that are Beagle/Cocker Spaniel mixes who drive us crazy but we love to death. Not sure how they will like it when we have some real babies one day.

We're currently on our second duty station in San Diego and loving every minute of it. We've been here almost a year and have 2 more to go. We've pretty much decided that this is where we'll retire one day... just not yet! We still have years of moving and exploring to do.

I'm pretty much not sure what else to say ha. I guess a nice big HELLO to any new readers who found me through this awesome blog hop.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Well it's Sunday again, and I have yet to do a recap of my birthday trip to Vegas. I promise I will get around to that this week! It's on my to do list. Along with a million other things. Yikes. This is the week of playing catch up, no getting around it. I hope!?

I hope everyone had a great Mother's day. We HOPE to do something late for Frank's mom, but it's up in the air because it's between that or a weekend couples retreat with our church. We have until next Sunday to decide, lets see if we remember to talk about it this week! ha. (Don't worry i've already talked to my mom about what we'll be doing for her, but I've decided to wait till her birthday since it's in August.)

1. What has been your most memorable Mother's Day? (with your mom, as a mom, or with your wife)I have such a horrible horrible memory at times :( The only thing that comes to mind is the birthday lunches I would share with my grandmother, mom and aunts since mine and my grandmas birthdays were only a few days apart. And only a week or so from mothers day.

2. Have you ever been pulled over for speeding and were you able to talk your way out of it?Well..... ha. The first time I was pulled over I cried my way out of it, bad me I know but I was 17 and DID NOT want a ticket! Then at 18 I was pulled over again but for some reason I just didn't have the desire to get my way out of that one. Never knew why either.

3. What's the oldest thing you have hanging in your closet?I have a Puma sweatshirt that some girl had left at our house sometime back around 2000, it had been hanging around the house for sometime so finally I just took it as my own. And I still have it, and wear it to this day.

4. Do you whiten your teeth?I really hope my mom reads this post because I know she's going to have something good to say about this one! I used too in high school, I'm a little obsessed over my teeth. I finally came to the realization that they should not be any whiter, or I will start to scare young children. Trust me it is a battle with myself to NOT whiten them :)

5. Underwear or Panties..What do you call your "unmentionables"?UNDERWEAR!! When I hear adults say Panties to each other it just gives me the creeps for some reason. I do like to have fun with the word sometimes and call them underpanties, underpants, underoos (Mikey that ones for you!) and to annoy each other Frank and I will call them Panties since we both hate that word.

6. If you could go on vacation right now..today..where would you go?Anywhere with a beach where it's warm and quite.

7. Do you get offended when people cuss on their blogs?No because it's my choice to read it. Blogging is my way of helping me stop swearing! It's working a little.. but I'm not perfect.

8. If you had to give up one luxury item, it would be....?If you would have asked me this last year I wouldn't know what to say. In the last year I have given up gossip magazines and blogs (you really have no idea how much time they really waste!) except with the occasional look at People.com. Within the last month we have given up the 5 channels we watch on the converter box. And I went without a phone for 7 months, not by choice of course. But I have realized that we really can live with very little, we don't need lots of things to keep us on our butts for hours on end.So I didn't really answer the question the way it was asked, but he like I said, I'm not perfect ; )

Friday, May 7, 2010

I can't believe it's Thursday again. Ever since we got home from Vegas I haven't been feeling very well. Pooy. I'm so far behind on everything, try and bare with me. For some reason my signature decided to stop working... eventually I'll get around to fixing it. Maybe maybe not.

I've made a few new blog friends and would like to say WELCOME :) I've loved going through your blogs and getting to know all of you.

A big THANK YOU for all the birthday wishes. Best birthday to date. Hopefully that means 23 will be a good year!??

About a week ago I stopped taking my Cymbalta (hopefully for good) and just now I started getting some pains in my lower back/side. Ughhh... I'm losing my mind with it all right about now.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

For the first time in years I finally get the birthday I've wanted. A show in Vegas. Yay.

For my birthday my mom got me a new set of pots and pans!

I'm in love. My first set of nice pans. I seriously can't wait to use them, but at the same time I want to keep them looking perfect. Just a little FYI I couldn't get a good picture of these, so instead I decided to play around with the lighting in picnik having fun.

They're Revere wear, stainless steel. She would have gotten me ones with copper bottoms.. but now I can't remember why she wasn't able too. She found these ones on a great sale and I don't think was able to pass them up. I know if I had the money I wouldn't. She had also seen mine and knew how desperate I was for a good set. I mean, who wants to cook with these?

I didn't that's for sure!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday. I'll be back in a few days with lots of pictures and hopefully fun stories from my birthday trip.